(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a workpiece feeder, more particularly to an apparatus for feeding workpieces to a workpiece gripping position of a hand of an industrial robot.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In industrial robots used for machine tools or the like, the workpiece gripping position of the hand of the robot is adjusted by a combination of three motions, i.e., transverse motion along the horizontal axis, vertical motion along the vertical axis, and rotational motion around the horizontal or vertical axis.
A known workpiece feeder used for such robots, includes a frame, a table mounted on said frame, and an endless conveyor mounted on said table and having a plurality of movable pallets interspaced from each other at equal distances, said conveyor having at least one belt run portion extending over said table and adapted to move said pallets intermittently one by one under said predetermined area.
However, robots able to effect both motion along the horizontal axis and motion along the vertical axis are complicated in construction and expensive. In some cases, therefore, robots are used which are not able to effect motion along the horizontal axis or vertical axis (below, "limited axis robots"). If said conventional workpiece feeders are applied to such limited axis robots, they would not be able to carry workpieces to the workpiece gripping position of the robot hand. As of now, there have been no workpiece feeders able to be used for limited axis robots.